This invention is related to an earth boring process, more particularly to a process for efficiently performing horizontal earth boring.
Prior earth boring systems are shown, for example, in the following U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,342 to Hasewend et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,698 to Pauley; U.S. Pat No. 3,905,431 to Hasewend; U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,631 to Cherrington; U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,895 to Ward et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,588 to Wagner; U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,723 to Edmond et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,255 to Baker et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,638 to Dunn; U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,556 to Panzke; and U. S. Pat. No. 5,042,597 to Rehm et al.
Most prior art earth boring systems have used an auger drill for the boring operation. The auger drilling systems are typically slow, ineffective against hard, consolidated strata, and often do not result in a straight-through hole being bored. For example, if the auger hits rock, it typically moves up or down thus slowing the process and resulting in a bore which is misaligned.
Also, most prior art earth boring systems typically require repeated withdrawal of the drill head to remove debris accumulated during the boring process, thus slowing the boring process and requiring more labor time.
It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide a horizontal boring method which can efficiently drill very hard rock strata as well as soft soil.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a horizontal boring system and method which uses a hammer bit type drill in place of the auger drill.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a horizontal boring system in which air can be continuously supplied to the bore being drilled to remove debris and thus enhance and speed the drilling process.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a horizontal boring method in which a rotary auger system is used to transport debris accumulated during the boring process away from the area being bored.